The Modern Tramway Journal After WW2 and into 1960s

[rogerfarnworth]

The Modern Tramway – December 1951 – The New German Standard Tramcar

The featured image for this article shows the prototype Standard Tramcar on the streets of Hanover, © Streek en Stadsvervoer, Public Domain. [1: p280]

During the 1950s, German trams transitioned from older, war-damaged wooden vehicles to new, streamlined standard designs that supported the postwar Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle). Standard designs emerged in both East and West Germany, heavily influencing urban transit.

In West Germany, operators sought to replace aging fleets with standardized models to streamline manufacturing and repairs

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/05/20/the-modern-tramway-december-1951-the-new-german-standard-tramcar/

[rogerfarnworth]

The Modern Tramway May 1952 – Metrovick Electrical Equipment

This short article follows on from an earlier article about the adverts placed in the 1951 issues of The Modern Tramway.

The featured image for this article shows Allan Tram No. 107 at work on the streets of Rotterdam, © Voogd075 and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). [6]

Metropolitan-Vickers, – Metrovick – was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam turbines, switchgear, transformers, electronics and railway traction equipment. Metrovick holds a place in history as the builders of the first commercial transistor computer, the Metrovick 950, and the first British axial-flow jet engine, the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2. Its factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, was for most of the 20th century one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in Britain and the world.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/05/21/the-modern-tramway-may-1952-metrovick-electrical-equipment/

[rogerfarnworth]

The Modern Tramway – June 1951 – Reinstatement of a Street Tramway Route in Helsinki

The featured image for this article is the pikkuruotsalainen (“Little Swede”) tram, built by ASEA in Sweden. Together with its open summer trailer,  they became a beloved pair on city tracks. The breezy trailers were especially popular on hot days, so much so that passengers sometimes clung to the running boards or jumped off before the tram had fully stopped. Though open trailers were meant only for summer use, wartime shortages forced them into winter service under tarpaulins. Their final flourish came during the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, when crowds crammed aboard one last time before the trailers disappeared from daily traffic, © Helsinki City Museum, Public Domain. [19]

A short letter from Kaj Arnold Larsen, Engineer of Helsinki Tramways was published in The Modern Tramway in June 1951. [1]

It seems that the editors of The Modern Tramway were delighted when examples that bucked the seemingly overwhelming trend of closures could be cited.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/05/22/the-modern-tramway-june-1951-reinstatement-of-a-street-tramway-route-in-helsinki/

[rogerfarnworth]

The Modern Tramway – December 1951 – The Bratislava Tramways

The featured image for this article is a vintage postcard featuring a tram crossing Hurbanovo námestie in Bratislava, © Public Domain. [7]

The Modern Tramway carried a short article by Gerald Druce about Bratislava’s Tramways as he encountered them at the beginning of the 1950s. [1]

This series of photographs appear on a single page in the journal and are of relatively low definition. [1: p264]

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/05/23/the-modern-tramway-december-1951-the-bratislava-tramways/